Pages

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Fat Boy vs. The Cheerleaders, by Geoff Herbach

Gabe “Chunk” Johnson is a self-professed band geek. His biggest problem is a struggle with his weight,
and it’s a constant battle for him to drink fewer than four bottles of Code Red
Mountain Dew each day.Gabe’s world gets
thrown upside-down when he learns that the proceeds from his favorite vending
machine, which had been used in the past to support a summer camp for his school
band, will now be used to pay for a professional dancer to coach the
cheerleading squad! Gabe refuses to stay
quiet about this new injustice, and he organizes a protest campaign that
quickly spirals out of control.

This book is an awesome read, although I would hesitate to
recommend it to anyone under the age of 16 since it touches on themes like
vandalism, sexuality, and alcohol abuse.
To be fair, though, these things are probably everyday occurrences at
any public high school in America. None
of these elements are overly graphic, and I appreciated the way that the author
uses them to develop his story. By the
end of the book, I had the chance to examine these characters’ life
circumstances in great detail. It would
have been easy to dislike the cheerleaders because they have such a successful
outward appearance, for example, but often people have their own struggles
which aren’t as visible as Gabe’s obesity.

I really enjoyed this book, since it allowed me a chance to
root for an underdog. Gabe Johnston
might not be the most attractive person in his school, and it’d be easy to pass
him by without a second thought. If you
did, though, you’d be missing out on the chance to meet a funny, friendly,
resourceful kid who’s clearly a force to be reckoned with! Even if people like Gabe seem to take pride
in labeling themselves as “freaks, geeks, or burners”, you’d be missing out on
a lot if you passed up on a chance to get to know them!